OAN Brooke Mallory
UPDATED 12:35 PM – Friday, March 24, 2023
At a mandatory training last month, a high school in Arkansas issued its teachers a poll that forced them to reject the perks that come with being White.
The survey was titled “Cultural Competency Continuum: Knowledge, Behaviors, and Dispositions for Educators,” and it was handed out during an obligatory educator-led development training, according to a letter sent by John L. Colbert, Fayetteville Public Schools Superintendent.
However, the unexpected teacher survey may have possibly violated Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ restriction on Critical Race Theory (CRT).
“My administration will not tolerate this kind of CRT and indoctrination in our public schools,” Sanders said.
Photos of the four-section survey, which the group had obtained from a teacher, were tweeted by a local “Mom’s for Liberty” chapter.
“This survey compels teachers to acknowledge that, if White, they are biased, racist, and privileged… The survey does not measure IF a teacher is racist and privileged but rather how far down the racist and privileged continuum their answers rate them,” tweeted the mother-run group.
“If there was any question about the presence of CRT in our district, this survey removes all doubt.”
In the “Analyze and Align” portion, educators were asked if they renounce “any privileges that come with White racial identity” and if they “advocate for cultural competency and social justice effectively and professionally.”
The “Awaken and Assess” portion questioned participants if they were cognizant of their own privileges, biases, and stereotypes.
In the “Apply and Act” portion, participants were asked if they normally “monitor and manage equitable access and support services” for their students by looking at data on their gender, color, ethnicity, and language. Also, it inquired as to whether they permit pupils to raise the awareness of teachers “by questioning bias assumptions or behaviors observed in our school environment.”
Additionally, the survey questioned if participating educators were “brave equity warriors.”
“We’ve already reached out to the district to ensure no teacher is forced to sign this pledge. We’re making sure it doesn’t happen again. We will teach kids how to think, not what to think,” Sanders said.
Sanders had announced a ban on the schooling of CRT as one of her first official acts as governor. In his letter, Colbert stated that the Arkansas Department of Education had found the survey to be in violation of this rule.
“Based on this guidance, Fayetteville Public Schools will ensure this survey is not further disseminated,” Colbert said in response to angry teachers and parents.
All upcoming professional development materials, he pledged, would be examined to assure the utmost compliance.
Colbert later downplayed the incident, claiming that the teacher survey was only ever used as a tool for introspection and was never actually collected or made mandatory.
However, this contradicted what some teachers said were instructed to them in the beginning regarding the survey.
The Fayetteville Public School District declined to give any comments or answer journalist questions.
